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Sydney’s Hyde Park…shade, rest and music!

It was nice to take the time and see the city centre through tourists’ eyes

Captain Cook, born in Yorkshire, landed in Australia in 1770…..what a contrast to the city we see today..

We walked through Hyde Park every day, and we were grateful to have these enormous trees giving us so much shade in Sydney’s hot summer.

Jane Jose in her book Places Women Make says… liveability means being able to walk to a park, near where you live, have shady trees and seating and ”accidental connectedness” to your neighbourhood or city….

an early morning yoga class..

This part of Hyde Park is very familiar to me as I came here every day when I first arrived in Sydney, from Africa, aged 19. I sat in the park and waited for my brother to finish work. (my two brothers were the only people I knew in Australia at that time.)

The park gave me a connection with people, and I began to feel part of the city.

The Domain is near Hyde Park, and has some great playing fields for groups to use at lunch time in the city…

I love this sign, ”A place for people” …what a great reminder for all big cities!!

The flowers boxes in the city this summer are wonderful, and I have never seen parsley used so well in a flower bed…

Most of all I love buskers and music in the city….I always give some money to someone who is providing music….it is the food of life!

I’ll end with another beautiful, but exhausting city, Rome…we were there in May last year.

Even a glorious city like Rome can become too much, and one day we found this wonderful park. We sat in the shade of some big trees and listened to a busker playing the trumpet

soft melodious jazz never sounded so good …I can hear that music as I write…

When our grandchildren visit, we always feed the ducks at Falls Park here in Greenville. I love countryside hikes, but it’s also fun to mill around with others in a beautiful urban setting. Sydney is high on my list.

How lovely reading about Sydney, I just loved it there, as you say it’s soooo green and relaxing. I only had a week there so envy you in the nicest possible way being able to visit! Oh….how true about Rome being exhausting. Loved the buskers here, you just can’t beat a busker, Liverpool if full to overflowing with them. They always sound a little haunting to me.xxx

In parks everywhere, from city spaces to national parks, I always give a silent thanks to the forward-thinking people who understood how necessary it is for people to retain pieces of natural, non-human, growing things around them. As for parsley, it’s so lush and textured, it’s a perfect floral backdrop Plus, it’s good to eat. Finally, Captain Cook sure got around. He was a major player in two of my favorite places in the world–Alaska and Hawaii. My office in Anchorage (Alaska) looked down on a monument to Captain Cook, where his statue faced across Cook Inlet, a gorgeous expanse of extreme tides, mud flats, whales, ravens, eagles and distant mountains. Imagine a life exploring through such places of incredible beauty. Maybe worth the violent ending.

Very interesting to know that there is a monument to Captain Cook in Anchorage .. & what amazing sights he saw on his travels .. You painted a wonderful picture of the Cook Inlet. Yes, I too am eternally grateful for national parks & green spaces in cities. Sydney & other cities in Ausralia are going through a time of rapid growth & I hope we will have the foresight to include green spaces as our forebears did.

It’s always lovely to see some greenery and nature in the midst of a big city. You have shared the magic, the flowers, trees, people, buskers. Hobart has a delightful small St David’s Park. As recently in London, I enjoyed both Green Park and St James’s Park.

What an absolutely beautiful park with such large walking areas, water features and lovely trees and plants. Thanks heavens for our forward thinking ancestors who set aside areas for many generations to enjoy. 🙂

Beautiful scenes, Gerrie. Love those colourful flower boxes. I am a big fan of New York’s Central Park. There is always so much going on there, but one can still find a quiet spot to sit and contemplate. I agree with you that a city can never have too much greenery, or too much live music either. 🙂

It was lovely to see different images of Sydney and reading about your first encounters with the park. That shade must have been welcome with the soaring temperatures Sydney has experienced in the last few months. We have a small park hidden away in our town which is loving cared for by volunteers. Sarah x